Happy Mother's Day!

We called Lance yesterday for our bi-annual phone call. We get to talk to each other on Christmas Day and Mother's Day. It was, as he put it, quite a "coinkidink" that his birthday is also on Mother's Day this year. He says this was the best birthday he's ever had.

You could hear the excitement and happiness in his voice! He wanted to know about everything at home, and we wanted to know about everything in Poland. One insight he shared was that people are the same everywhere, only the language is different. I would've thought that cultural differences would be more apparent. But isn't it beautiful that we are all God's children, no matter where we happen to live???


Lance was honored and privileged to baptize his friend from China on Saturday. He also confirmed her to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday. He says that those who are converted outside of China are allowed to continue in their faith, but they are not allowed to proselyte or hand out teaching materials. I'm certain she will be a good example and influence on those around her when she returns to China in July.

With her permission, here are the pictures Lance forwarded to me via email today...

I have been privileged, too, to get to know this lovely woman through Facebook. As Lance put it, "she is incredible and such a powerful example of faith!" I would have to agree. Oh, and props to Lance's companion who is really good at making sure there are lots of pictures taken!

During our phone conversation, I made sure to ask him how to pronounce some names of the people and places. The Polish language has a few letter variances from the English language:

There is no Q, V, or X. The Ł is pronounced "woo". So the town in Poland spelled Łodz is pronounced similar to "woo-dj". The town where he is serving now is spelled Szczecin, and the pronunciation in English would be something like, "sha-che-cheen". I still think Welsh is trickier!

Lance reaffirms that he is in the right place at the right time. He bares testimony that God loves us all equally and has not left us alone to wander aimlessly. He states that he is learning more about himself and his fellow man by being in the mission field.

I am very proud of him and the man he has become!

Laser Tag